Automatically-releasable driving means for laundry machinery and the like



Aug. 18, 1925.

J.-'r. HUME AUTOMATICALLY RELEASABL DRIVING MEANS FOR LAUNDRY MACHINERYND THE LIKE 3 Sheetsv-Sheet 1 originan Filed Nov. 2;1922

Il PIIIIII ZV//A Aug. 1s, 1925. 1,549,983

J. T. HUME vAUTOMATIGALLY RELEASABLE DRIVING IEANS FOR LAUNDRY MACHINERYA NDV THE LIKE original Filed Nov. 2. 1922 smarts-sheet a' `iii iHH/006/1 40" ///il 62 1i i J Huw/? J5 W J. 1 ,HuME

AUTOMATICALLY RELEASABLE DRIVING MEANS FOR LAUNDRY MACHINERY AND THELVIKE original Filed Nov. 1922 .5,6 63

Aug. 18, 1925.

y lnz/enor: AJohn T. Hu/m6 '@of-ilgumm mi Patented Aug. 18, 1925.

. UNITED ySTTES 1,549,983 PATENT' OFFICE.

.ronn r. Home, or CHICAGO, rrirrnors, assrenon 'ro Enmarcar MACHINECOMPANY,`

F CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION 0F ILLINOIS.

AUTOMATICALLY-RELEASABLE DRIVING MANS FOR' LAUNDRY' MACHINERY AND THELIKE.

Original application led November 1922, Serial No. 593,515. Divided andthis application Bled April` 13,1323. Serial No. 632,342.

To all whom 'it may concern.'

Be it known that ll, JOHN T. HUME, a citizen of the United States,residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of t Illinois, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Automatically-Releas-- Aeneral object of my invention is tO provi e power transmittlng meansautomatically operatable under such overload conditions to sever the'operating connection between the drivin element and the driven elementof the tram; and a further object is to provide such mechanism in a formparticularly adapted for convenient embodiment in power-driven laundrymachinery. Other objects of my invention are to provide simple, eicient,durable and reliable mechanism susceptible of facile production andassema@ bly for quantity manufacture and ease of maintenance and repair,and other objects will become apparent toflthose skilled in the art fromthe following description taken in conjunction with the accompanyingdrawings wherein .I have illustrated a single embodiment of my inventionincorporated in a washing machine drive. To these ends my inventionconsistsin the construction, combinations, and arrangement of partshereinafter more fully set forth and c aimed.

In the drawings Fig. l is an end elevation, with parts broken away,showing a washing machine and wringer actuated by driving mechanismembodying my invention; Fig. 2

t5 is a horizontal section through the lowerv reach of the gear-housing,with parts in elevation; Fig. 3 is a vertical section on line 3-3 ofFig. 2; Fig. i is a section on line iL-4: of Fig. 2; Figs. 5 and 6 areviews genlitt erally similar to Fig. 4: but showing the parts indiderent ositions of operation; Fig. 7 is an .enlargedP sectional viewshowing the worm, worm wheel and housing arrzanige-1 ment; and Fig. 8 isa reduced front elevation of a fragment of the machine.

The general construction of laundry machine herein illustratedcorresponds with` that shown in my co-pending application' rotatable topermit the wringer to be swung `to different positions about a verticalaxis. `30 lndicates the motor shaft, connectable through cooperatingparts to a power shaft unit 31, generally horizontally arranged beneaththe washing machine, and connected by approprlate gearing 32 to theupright line shaft 33 that drives the wringer gearin 26 as above stated.Preferably all of the drive-parts are housed, and the housing, generallyindicated at 36, is normally rigld with the frame of the machine so thatit may give adequate support to various members of the drlve. lIngeneral this housin comprises a horizontal tubular reach 37 or thepower-shaftunit, terminating in a gear box 38; a vertical reach orstandard 39, the base of which is bolted to and forms a cover for thegearbox 38 and the upper end of which receives the neck 28 of the gearhousing 28; this -vertical yreach having a gear box and enlargement l0for the cylinder-reversing gearing,'covered as at 4l and connected bylateral reach 4:2, which is end-closed as at d3, with a further gearhousing ad for the cylinder drive.

If too heavy a load is imposed on the main drive shaft, as by breakageof running parts or clogging of mechanisms driven from the line shaft33, the motor 22 should not be stopped but kept free to run, and this Ipreferably accomplish by complete disconnection of the motor from thebroken, clogged, or overloaded driven element. Therefore ll provide, inthe driving train and preferably in 'mounted in a swinging housing 28which is the power shaft unit close .to the motor, a torque-responsivepositive release mechanism which, when the load on the motor shaftbecomes too great, will automatically operate to disconnect the motorcompletely from its normal mechanical connection with the line shaft 33and preferably will maintain such 'disconnection until the device isreset inclosed or connected relation. Such automatic release mechanism lprovide in the form generally indicated at 45, Fig. 2.

The motor shaft 30 finds 'effective continuation in clutch-shaft 50,and, through the elutch of the release mechanism 45 1t may drive thegear shaft 51. Preferably a universal joint 52 of suitable constructionconnects shafts 30 and 50 outside of the lower reach 37 of the housing,screw-cap 53 closing the end orifice of the housing through which thehousing-contained shafting may be withdrawn. A thrust-collar 54ydetachably secured in the housing gives bearing to the shaft andpositions one disc-head of a positive clutch 55, the tooth or teeth 55aof which may coact with the tooth or teeth 55b of a similar disc-head ongear shaft 51. rlihe coacting faces of the clutch teeth are preferablyslightly beveled so that the driven clutch member may easily escapefromthe driving clutch member when shaft 51 is moved axially forward asshown in Figs. 5 and 6. Gear shaft 51 is so mounted as to permit thesliding disengagement of the clutched surfaces. At its rear end it findsbearing in a sliding sleeve 56, and at its forward end it is slidablysupported in a bracket 57 cast in the housing. Between these bearingsthe shaft has a worm 58 to drive (counterclockwise in Fig. 2) theline-shaft worm gear 59, as one specifically desirable provision of agear structure 32.

As a desirable means for imposing definite resistance to thetorque-responsive opening of the clutch 55, and also for giving asnap-action on the opening and a positive maintenance of the clutch inopened condition .until it is manually reset, I make the followingprovision: Rack 61 on the shiftable sleeve 56 engages a pinion 62 whichis vertically disposed inbearings in the housing 37, the pinion-arborcarrying a handle 63 (Fig. 3) conveniently located for 'manualoperation. At its lower end the pinion-arbor carries a lever 64,horizontally vibratable and connected to a toggle-link 65, the oppositeend of which is connected to a spring-block 66 that slides in achambered bearing-stud 67 and is constantly pressed outward by a spring68, the tension of which is adjustable by the movement of a bearingscrew 69.

The action of this torque-responsive release means is fully shown inFigs. 2, 5

and 6. Normally, the clutch 55 stands fully engaged, and normally theresistance of toggle spring 68 working through the toggle-levers in theclosed position shown in Fig. 2 suffices to hold the clutch fullyclosed. When the resistance, or load, opposing movement of worm gear 59in its counterclockwise direction of rotation (Fig. 2) becomessufficiently high, however, the worm 58, carrying the sleeve 56,advances axially rotating ,the pinion 62 of the releasing mechanism by.reason of the movement of rack 61 on the stated sleeve 56. 0f course therotation of pinion 62 must be eifected against the increasing pressureof spring 68 until the station shown in Fig. 5 is reached, where thetoggle 64-65 passes dead center. As soon aspdead center is passed, theaction of spring 68 becomes effective to augment the clutch-openingtendency, and the spring throws the toggle levers to the position shownin Fig. 6, snapping the clutch fully open and holding it there. Thus,with a very short axial movement and a very compact construction of theparts, l am able to effect both a very positive clutch engagement fornormal operation and a very positive release and maintenance of theclutch in open position under strain-conditions that are accuratelysettable by suitable adjustment of the tension screw 69 for the spring68.

Of course it is desirable that the large worm gear 59 be accuratelypositioned, and in the gear case 38 a stepped bearing 71 may beprovided, carried on ribs 72 aording a centralizing bearing-hub 73 thatfits into a recess in the worm wheel, this hub also forming a bottombearing for the upright line shaft 33 which makes splineengagement withthe gear 59 so that the shaft may be withdrawn vertically from theIstepped bearing and the gear. Thus it will be seen that all of the partsreferred to are readily removable from the housing structure.

It will be understood by those skilled in the art that while I haveherein described in detail a particular embodiment of my invention forpurposes of full disclosure thereof, and some of the detail features ofwhich I may claim for their specific advantages, still in the broaderaspects of my invention many changes in details of construction andarrangement of parts may be made without departure from the spirit ofthe invention and within the scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

'1. The combination of a prime mover, a load-carrying structure, a wormgear constantly connected for driving the load-carrying structure, anaxially-shiftable clutchshaft having a worm engaging said worm gear andhaving a toothed clutch member, a shaft connected with the prime moverand having a toothed clutch member positively engageable with the firstsaid clutch member, an axially slidable sleeve in which said .clutchshaft is mounted, said sleeve being provided with rack-teeth, a pinionmeshing with said rack, and a spring-pressed toggle mechanism acting onsaid pinion, substantially as described.

2. The combination of a prime mover having a shaft, a load-carryingstructure to be" driven, a clutch-shaft aligning with the motor shaft,positive clutch members interposed between said two shafts andhavingbeveled coacting faces, one of said clutch members being axiallymovable away from the other under sufficient torque, a rack axiallymovable with said clutch member, a pinion operatable by said rack, alever on said pinion, a spring-pressed toggle link normally holding saidlever in one limit of movement and arranged to snap over pastdead-center to throw said lever positively to another i limit ofmovement and thereby positively separate the axially movable clutchmember from its fellow. 3. The combination of'a prime mover having ashaft, a load-'carrying structure to be driven, a clutch-shaft aligningwith the motor shaft and axially movable with respect thereto,confronting positive clutch members on the ends of said respectiveshafts 'having beveled coacting faces, and means normally acting toresist movement of the relatively movableshaft away from the motor shaftcomprising a spring-pressed toggle mechanism and operative connectionsbetween said toggle mechanism and the axially movable shaft, Vsaidtoggle mechanism having its levers arranged in approximatev parallelismtothe movable shaft.

JOHN T. HUMEL

